Highly pressurized, purified liquid carbon dioxide is required for a variety of industrial processes. Often carbon dioxide as a bulk source stream is provided for purification as a vapor from a bulk carbon dioxide storage tank. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,872 discloses a method and apparatus for producing a pressurized high purity liquid carbon dioxide stream in which a carbon dioxide vapor feed stream is purified within a purifying filter and then condensed within a condenser. The resulting liquid is then alternately introduced and dispensed from two pressure accumulation chambers, which are heated by electrical heaters to pressurize the liquid to the desired delivery pressure.
However, system and size constraints often make it inefficient or impractical from a cost or logistical standpoint to manufacture purified liquid carbon dioxide from a vapor source. Indeed, carbon dioxide purification facilities using carbon dioxide from a bulk tank as a vapor source exhibit various complications, which become more problematic for high throughput systems. When a carbon dioxide vapor stream is used, there is a substantial heating load on the bulk tank pressure building system, which increases the likelihood of ice accumulating and blocking the pressure building system heat exchanger. In addition, such systems require the application of supplemental heating sources to maintain system pressure and vaporization. Such bulk tank vapor source systems also suffer from impurity buildup that results in significant time off-line for costly periodic maintenance and repair.
Therefore, a need exists for alternative method and apparatus for producing purified liquid carbon dioxide, or more generally a purified liquid, with improved performance, increased energy efficiency and reduced equipment cost.